Title 23
Health and Safety

Chapter 17.22
Healthy Rhode Island Reform Act of 2008

R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-17.22-2

§ 23-17.22-2. Establishment of the healthy Rhode Island strategic plan.

(a) The director of health in consultation with the health care planning and accountability advisory council established pursuant to chapter 81 of title 23, shall be responsible for the development and implementation of a five (5) year strategic plan that charts the course for a healthy Rhode Island.

(b) The director and the health care planning and accountability advisory council shall engage a broad range of health care providers, health insurance plans, professional organizations, community and nonprofit groups, consumers, businesses, school districts, and state and local government in developing and implementing the healthy Rhode Island five (5) year strategic plan.

(c)(1) The healthy Rhode Island strategic plan shall include:

(i) A description of the course charted to a healthy Rhode Island (the healthy Rhode Island model), which includes patient self-management, emphasis on primary care, community initiatives, and health system and information technology reform, to be used uniformly statewide by private insurers, third party administrators, and public programs;

(ii) A description of prevention programs and how these programs are integrated into communities, with chronic care management, and the healthy Rhode Island model;

(iii) A plan to develop and implement reimbursement systems aligned with the goal of managing the care for individuals with or at risk for conditions in order to improve outcomes and the quality of care;

(iv) The involvement of public and private groups, health care professionals, insurers, third party administrators, associations, and firms to facilitate and assure the sustainability of a new system of care;

(v) The involvement of community and consumer groups to facilitate and assure the sustainability of health services supporting healthy behaviors and good patient self-management for the prevention and management of chronic conditions;

(vi) Alignment of any information technology needs with other health care information technology initiatives;

(vii) The use and development of outcome measures and reporting requirements, aligned with outcome measures established by the director under this section, to assess and evaluate the healthy Rhode Island model system of chronic care management;

(viii) Target timelines for inclusion of specific chronic conditions to be included in the chronic care infrastructure and for statewide implementation of the healthy Rhode Island model;

(ix) Identification of resource needs for implementation and sustaining the healthy Rhode Island model and strategies to meet the identified needs; and

(x) A strategy for ensuring statewide participation no later than January 1, 2010 by all health insurers, third-party administrators, health care professionals, health care facilities as defined in § 23-17-2 of the Rhode Island general laws, and consumers in the healthy Rhode Island chronic care management plan, including common outcome measures, best practices and protocols, data reporting requirements, payment methodologies, and other standards.

(2) The strategic plan shall be reviewed biennially and amended as necessary to reflect changes in priorities. Amendments to the plan shall be reported to the general assembly in the report established under subsection (d) of this section.

(d)(1) The director shall report to the general assembly annually on the status of implementation of the Rhode Island blueprint for health. The report shall include the number of participating insurers, health care facilities, health care professionals and patients; the progress for achieving statewide participation in the chronic care management plan, including the measures established under subsection (c) of this section; the expenditures and savings for the period; the results of health care professional and patient satisfaction surveys; the progress toward creation and implementation of privacy and security protocols; and other information as requested by the committees. The surveys shall be developed in collaboration with the health care planning and accountability advisory council.

(2) If statewide participation in the healthy Rhode Island model for health is not achieved by January 1, 2010, the director shall evaluate the healthy Rhode Island model for health and recommend to the general assembly changes necessary to create alternative measures to ensure statewide participation by all health insurers, third-party administrators, health care facilities, and health care professionals.

History of Section.
P.L. 2008, ch. 113, § 1; P.L. 2008, ch. 248, § 1.